What’s the magic date for summer travel?

At the end of every summer vacation season, there's a magic date to fly. It varies from year to year but this year it falls on Aug. 25. 

Here's what makes the magic date so special, and why you should take full advantage of it.

• 1. It's cheap.

  

  Reuters
  As far as the airlines are concerned, August 24 is the last day of summer. The magic begins with big discounts to mark the start of the fall season on Aug. 25. By that date, many kids are back in school and family vacations are done - but airlines still have to fill their planes. They do this by lowering fall ticket prices by 10, 20 and even 30% (or more).

• 2. Shorter lines.

  

  iStock
  Imagine smaller crowds at your favorite destination. That's what you may well find starting Aug. 25 and beyond, when lines at popular tourist attractions begin to thin out. Airport security can be a lot faster in fall, too.

• 3. Aug. 25 is just the beginning.

  

  iStock
  The cheaper fall season starts on Aug. 25 but continues through mid-November. Then, airlines gear up for the Thanksgiving travel period and raise their ticket prices dramatically.

• 4. Fewer blackout dates.

  

  iStock
  With the exception of the Labor Day holiday, most airlines don't blackout travel dates during fall sales (though there is always an exception or two). The significant blackout periods occur later in the season, covering the most popular days to fly around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
  One last thing: As noted, the magic date varies slightly from year to year but typically occurs during the last week in August.

Read More

Hamas military warns international airlines of more airstrikes

The Hamas military warned of further rocket attacks on Israel's strategic interests, including Ben Gurion airport east of Tel Aviv, a spokesperson said on Wednesday, adding that an Israeli airstrike in Gaza had failed to kill its commander, Mohammed Deif.

Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas' military wing, cautioned international airlines against flying into Israel starting Thursday, suggesting hostilities may continue. Earlier in the conflict, airlines suspended their flights into Israel after a rocket landed in a town near Israel's main international airport.

Israel has not formally commented on the strike but local media quoted an anonymous official as saying it was meant to hit Deif.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, told the group's TV station Al-Aqsa that Deif "wasn't even in the location when they bombed it."

Twenty-one people were wounded in a separate airstrike that hit the building that houses Al-Aqsa TV, said al-Kidra, of the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Air raid sirens wailed in southern Israeli cities Wednesday morning warning of incoming rockets from Gaza. There were no reports of injuries, though a piece of a rocket that was intercepted near Tel Aviv fell on a busy road on Tuesday night.

Read More

Fly the skies with Emirates Airline’s A380 Experience

If you’re unable to escape to cooler climes this summer, Emirates Airline has a novel way for you to jet abroad, without going anywhere.

Head to The Dubai Mall and on the ground floor near the ice rink, you’ll come across their A380 Experience. It’s a flight simulator that allows you to take the controls of a Boeing 737 or an Airbus A380. How difficult could it be to take off and land a super jumbo, I wondered? Incredibly difficult, I was to discover.

My experience began with a friendly meet-and-greet from my captain and co-pilot. He showed me to a row of plane seats and a selection of destinations popped up on the TV in my armrest.

I was able to choose from 12 airports and settled on Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris as the final destination. Choosing the weather conditions were next and, for added excitement, stormy skies were programmed in.

Soon it was time to head inside the simulator, which was an open-backed cockpit of an Emirates plane. I had been expecting to step inside an elevated simulator, encapsulated inside a machine that would soar and nose-dive at the touch of the sidestick.

Nevertheless, the fact that it wasn’t the case didn’t detract from the experience and there was something surprisingly thrilling about sitting in the throne-like leather chair of a first officer.

Before pushback, I was given a full briefing about the overwhelming number of buttons and instruments that enveloped me. Soon, we were ready for the take-off – cabin crew, arm doors and cross-check.

After the briefest of taxis along a rainy runway, it was full throttle ahead and we were airborne.

The weather obscured the view of Paris more than a little and meant that maintaining altitude and staying on course was a challenge. My instructor informed me this was intentionally the case because commercial pilots regularly used the simulator for practice.

Before there was time to make my inaugural announcement from the flight deck, we were readying to land. As time was tight, the 30 minutes really does fly by, the captain changed the weather conditions to clear and the arrival airport to Dubai.

It enhanced the experience a great deal and the panoramic 3-D view was exactly as you would expect to see it through a pilot’s eyes.

As I banked the plane, The World and Palm Jumeirah came into full view and upon the final descent to Dubai International Airport, we had a bird’s-eye view of all the city’s landmarks. All too soon, it was time to disembark and hang up my uniform.

All in all, the experience was a great one, albeit over far too quickly. The instructors are a mine of information – most of them qualified pilots – yet there’s little time to grill them on the finer points of turbulence or landing on water.

For those with a fear of flying, the simulator is said to help, not least because it demystifies the process a great deal. For those who desire a PPL, private pilot’s license, it’s also an excellent first step.

Fundamentally, it’s an exhilarating experience, where no matter how bad your technique, the captain will reassure you that you’ve spilt no one’s coffee and you’ve passed with flying colours.

Read More

Qantas Airways celebrates 60 years of flying to the United States

Qantas Airways (Sydney) is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its first trans-Pacific services to the USA. On May 15, 1954, a 60-passenger QANTAS Airways Lockheed 1049C Super Constellation aircraft departed Sydney for San Francisco and Vancouver. The journey to San Francisco took around 30 flying hours and involved fuel stops at Fiji, Canton Island and Hawaii.

QANTAS named this the Southern Cross Route in honor of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew who made the first flight in 1928. QANTAS International CEO Simon Hickey said the sixty year milestone highlighted Qantas’ ongoing commitment to the USA.

“QANTAS is proud of its flying history to the US. Some of our most historic moments have been on the trans-Pacific route including the start of the jet age in 1959 with our first Boeing 707 services and introducing the largest commercial passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, on the route in 2008,” said Mr Hickey.

“The milestone comes in a year where QANTAS is investing significantly in the customer experience to the US, including the opening of our new First and Business Lounges in Los Angeles and the introduction of A380 services between Sydney and Dallas/Ft. Worth from September.

The airline first established itself in North America in San Francisco in 1954, when it took over the operations of British Commonwealth Pacific Airline in September 1947. This year also marks thirty years since QANTAS Airways began nonstop flights between Sydney, Melbourne and Los Angeles beginning in April 1984. These services were operated by the long-range Boeing 747SP (above) with a flying time of around 16 hours. Today, the flying time is around 13 hours.

QANTAS is the only carrier to operate A380 services between the US and Australia.

QANTAS flights to the USA include:

Direct daily Airbus A380 services from Sydney and Melbourne to Los Angeles

A daily Boeing 747-400 service from Sydney to New York via Los Angeles

A direct daily Boeing 747-400 service from Brisbane to Los Angeles

Three Boeing 767-300 services per week between Sydney and Honolulu and;

A daily Boeing 747-400 from Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth, which will move to a six per week Airbus A380 service from September 29.

Read More

Asiana Airlines says pilot flying too slow before crash

Asiana Airlines acknowledged for the first time that the "probable cause" of the fatal crash in San Francisco last July was its pilot flying too slow, according to documents federal investigators released today.

However, the airline also said "inconsistencies" in the Boeing 777-200ER's autothrottle contributed to the crash. The airline's positions submitted earlier this month were part of hundreds of pages of documents the National Transportation Safety Board will consider while investigating the crash that killed three passengers and injured more than 200.

Asiana said the plane's navigation equipment "led the crew to believe that the autothrottle was maintaining the airspeed set by the crew" and instead the equipment "disabled the aircraft's minimum airspeed protection." The airline also said test pilots had trouble landing under the same conditions in simulators.

Read More